Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1942,
January 4 - 6 fatalities in a car at a crossing at Churchill Avenue,
Westboro.

Ottawa Journal Monday 5 January 1942

Not one of nine passengers of motor car saw or heard locomotive approaching.Pounding
out of a snow storm and darkness, a CPR passenger train plowed through
a crowded motor car stalled on the Churchill avenue (Main street) level
crossing in Westboro, at 4.15 Sunday, and took a toll of six dead and
two seriously injured. It was a tragic climax to happy family party.
The ninth occupant of the car miraculously escaped with only a
scratched hand. The tragedy struck as the sequel to a Good
Samaritan act by the driver of the death car. He had stalled across the
rails while giving another car a helping helping push. The automobile
was smashed to bits by the fast Trans-Canada passenger train as it
swung into Ottawa at a 60-miles-per-hour clip.Two Airmen Killed.Three
members' of an Ottawa lamily were wiped out and members of three Ottawa
district families lost their lives. The two Air Force sons and a
daughter-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Zephir Nadon, of 178 Russell avenue
died instantly. A 27-year-old girl, Celina Bazinet; Roger
Champagne, 21-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Noe Champagne, of Orleans,
five miles east of Ottawa, and Sylvio Boyer, 31 -year-old -year-old
former Timmins man, were also killed.The one who; escaped
with a scratched hand was another member of the Nadon
family. Constable Maurice Nadon, 21. In hospital seriously injured are
two girls, one of them an Ottawa resident, and the other a member of
the Champagne family. The automobile was southbound when it
stalled' on the right-of-way in the path of the onrushing eastbound
train. Spewing its passengers right and left, the car was hurled
through the air and landed in a gully 100 'yards east of the crossing,
a pile tl junk. The accident brought tragic end to the New Year's
holiday for the Nadon brothers. With their leaves expiring
this weekend they were out for their last evening together before
returning- to their posts. The train caught the car as it
straddled the crossing. In a fraction of a second automobile and
occupants were strewn for a hundred yards along the right-of-way. Apparently
no one saw or heard the train as it loomed up through the snow in the
pre-dawn darkness. None of the passengers in the car had a chance. The
locomotive, locomotive struck with a crash that was heard for blocks
around, and the car literally blown apart by the impact. A
twisted pile of wreckage which had been the chassis landed in a
gully 100 yards east of the crossing while the other parts of the
machine lay strewn along the track.Five Die Instantly. Five
were killed almost instantly, instantly, while the sixth died
half an hour after being admitted to the Ottawa Civic HospitaL Sgt.
Nadon was found crumpled in the snow . near the crossing. He was still
breathing, but died a few minutes later as he was carried into the
office of the M. N. Cummings Lumber Mill nearby. As members of the
train crew. and other rescuers went towork, they uncovered other bodies
and the injured along the right-of-way, right-of-way, but' it was
almost an hour before all the occupants of the car had been accounted
for. , Miss Basinet's body was found buried under the wreckage. Gilles
Nadon was! still alive when he was picked up along the right-of-way,
but he succumbed shortly after he was rushed to hospital.The death
car was one of three which left the home of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice .
Renaud, Fourth avenue, Westboro, about the same time. In the first
car which was the one pushed over the tracks, were John Page, driver,
John Dutrisac and two members of the Champagne family, Rudolphe and
Solange, all of Orleans. The driver had difficulty starting the motor
and Roger Champagne, driving his Buick 1930 sedan, offered to push
Page's car. Following in the rear was J. V. H. Lavlgne, of 30 Marier
road, Eastview, who was accom panied by another, member of the
Champagne family, Miss Yvette, of Eastview, and four or five others. Wheels Stuck in Tracks,Champagne's
car had succeeded in pushing Page's car over ithe slightly raised
crossing. The front wheels caught m the ice-rutted railway tracks and
unable to obtain obtain traction on the icy road with his rear wheels,
the driver was powerless to move the big car. Then tragedy struck. The
third car arrived a minute or two after the crash and the train had
already ground to a stop. Yvette Champagne, one of the first out of the
vehicle, stumbled almost immediately upon the body of her. brother,
Roger.Dazed by the shock, she could remember little of what had happened after that.A
graphic account of the tragedy was given by Constable Maurice Nadon,
R.C.M.P,. only occupant of the death car to escape injury. The
windows of. the car were frosted, he said, and the only clear
spot was on the ; windshield In front of the driver. It was snowing
heavily. "'Nobody seemed to hear the train. After it hit us I
don't remember anything except picking up the bodies. I remember
staggering around in a daze but I don't remember what happened to me
from the time of the crash until I found myself picking up bodies." Gilles,
he said, was still breathing when he reached him, so he carried his
brother to the nearby mill offlce first. The others were dead when he
found them. John Mack, superintendent of the lumber yard of
M.N. Cummings, which is located to the immediate north of the tracks,
was among those first on the scene. Mr. Mack, with his wife, resides in
an apartment above the office not more than 20 yards from the level
crossing. Mrs. Mack was lying in bed awake when she heard the terrific crash. Heard Train Whistle."I
heard the whistle of the train and the sound of a racing car
motor. Then . there was a crash and screams of a girl. I looked out the
window and I saw girl standing in the middle of the roadway screaming,
'My brother is dead', and pointing to a crumpled figure in the snow. I
thought at first the man in the snow was the 'only one that had been
killed, There was no sign of the car or any other injured, person. Then
the girl began running around screaming 'the train has taken the car
away.. The girl seemed to be half-crazed with grief," Mrs. Mack
related. Phoned for Ambulances. After rousing her husband.
Mrs. Mack telephoned police, ambulances and doctors. Mr. Mack began to
bring the dead and dying into his apartment but as the trainmen and
others began to discover bodies along the track and under the tangled
debris of the automobile, he opened the office of the lumber, mill. It
soon resembled an emergency hospital outpost in the battle line."We
did not know how manv there were and there was so much confusion we
were unable to find out from the occupants of the other cars. So we
just kept on looking", Mr. Mack said. His son, Albert Mack, found the
body of Miss Bazinet under a piece of the car wreckage 100 yards down
thetrack from the crossing.Dr. L. C. Purvis and Coroner Dr. iJ. S.
Nelson rendered medical aid where possible in the improvised hospital
and despatched the injured to the hospital in ambulances of A. I..
Tubman. Westboro and! A. E. Veitch and Son. Park- Parkdale avenue at
Gladstone.A inquest opened this morning at the funerl parlors of
Gauthier and Company, Limited. 259 St. Patrick street, by Dr. Nelson,
coroner of Westboro.Others Hear Crash,.The crash was heard by
many residents in the area. Fred Robins who resides on Main street.
some distance south of the crossing said he was awakened from a deep
sleep by the noise of the impact."It was a terrible sight," he
said. "Bodies were all over the place. Some of the girls were screaming
and the injured were groaning and crying. The train was in charrge
of Engineer! Charles McCurrie. of 48 Julian avenue, Ottawa,- Ottawa,
Fireman George Tremblay, 7 Loretta street, and Conductor Henry Budd, 12
Elm street. As the1 automobile approached the tracks from north to
south it was visible for a brief instant to Fireman Tremblay from his
lookout on the left side of the cab. The fireman shouted a quick
warning to the engineer and emergency brakes thrown on immediately.The
brakes were applied practically at the same time of the impact and the
locomotive came to a stop about 50 yards east of the crossing.A
statement made from the office of the district superintendent .of the
C.P.R. said the train was "running on time" on its Vancouver to
Montreal run and was travelling 60 miles an hour. The warning whistle
was sounded for the crossing. There are no wig-wag or alarm devices
there. The train was delayed an hour and 22 minutes after the accident.Occupants
of the first automobile, which barely missed being demolished, were
dazed from the shock of seeing their friends and members of their own
family wiped out In. one terrible instant. Rudolphe. Champagne and his
sister, Solange, in that car, were unable to give any coherent account
of what happened or what they did. Rudolphe saw the flicker of the
headlight of the locomotive for an instant, then the crash came; with
shocking nearness nearness behind the car.The three in the front
seat of the Champagne car were, Roger Champagne, Sgt. and Mrs. Nadon,
and in the back seat were the others. Maurice Nadon was seated seated
on the right side of the rear seat and; it was believed he was thrown
out the door to safety at the impact. Borden Conley, Nepean township township constable, investigated the accident,